Sunday, March 1, 2009

While winding up the 14th Lok Sabha on 26th Feb 2009, Hon'ble Speaker Mr Somnath Chatterjee expressed serious concerns about the functioning of the 14th Lok Sabha. In his speech, he was informing that nearly one-fourth of the Lok Sabha time was wasted in shouting, etc ; Many members did not even raise the questions; Many bills were passed without even a debate.

In a few weeks from now, Indian voters will be electing the 15th Lok Sabha. Unless the voters take this issue seriously, India will have the Lok Sabhas with poor quality members, who may not take interest in Parliamentary procedures.

In an exclusive interview for PodUniversal, Mr Era. Chezhian, a well known and a respected Indian Parlimentarian speaks about the functioning of the current Lok Sabha. Mr Chezian has served more than 22 years in Parliament, both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He is a well known Parliament debater. When he was the member of the Parliament, his speeches used to be heard both by the ruling and opposition members keenly. He was also the Chairman of many Parliamentary Committees, including that of the prestigeous Public Accounts Committee.

Though this octogenarian Parliamentarian has retired from active politics, he is presently respected as a 'statesman' by all the political parties all over India. According to him, the Institutions like Parliament can be more effective, only with the active involvement of the citizens and the media.

Please click here to listen to his interview by clicking play button ( 14 m). This streaming of the audio will be smooth in broadband connections. If the streaming is not smooth, please download the audio in mp3 format and play.